It’s only been two weeks Carlos Sainz underwent surgery for appendicitis and it was doubtful whether he would be at Australian GP. It’s not because it’s there sign an exhibition to give another punch to the table of those who leave their mark. Without being 100% physically after two weeks in bed, the Spaniard achieved his third victory, the first of the year, leading from the second lap with ferocious pace with the Ferrari and complete control. A master class with all the laws. The second place of Charles Leclerc the Maranello party ended while at Red Bull they lived a nightmare with Max Verstappen’s retirement after hitting the brakes. Lando Norris finished the podium.
For his part, Fernando Alonso He’s lucky to be able to come back. But it is luck that seeks strategy, cunning and, above all, hands. The Spaniard sought to surprise the tires that were different from the others at the start and took advantage of a Virtual to gain positions and go from being tenth to sixth using his head to stick to Checo Pérez and squeeze a speed greater than the car’s performance.
Angry start
The exit started uneventfully but the drama took very little time to come. Just a few seconds. On lap 2, Sainz took the opportunity to use DRS to overtake Verstappen before turn 9. The Dutchman complained about stability problems at the radius and the following lap saw the cause. I started Smoke coming out of your right rear tire. The smoke got worse and worse until on lap 4 the Red Bull was unable to drive as the brakes caught fire. The three-time champion was forced to withdraw for the first time since Imola in 2022. He waved goodbye to the possibility of matching his record 10-game winning streak with completely unexpected drama for those from Milton Keynes.
At the front, Carlos Sainz squeezed an incredible pace with the Ferrari before the dance began in the pits, which came earlier than expected. Hamilton entered on lap 8 to remove the soft rubber and perform an ‘undercat’ on several drivers. Later they did the same Charles Leclerc and Piastri on lap 10 to overtake Norris in their battle for second position. The strategy worked and Lando was overtaken by both, who remained in fourth place.
The one who took the longest to make the first stop was Fernando Alonso and he couldn’t have done better. Hamilton reported engine problems with his Mercedes and retired his car, causing the Virtual Safety Car to appear.. At that moment Alonso was second and the stop would have involved less loss of time. Aston Martin took advantage of the situation and the Spaniard returned to the track in fifth position behind the Ferraris and behind the McLarens. It was a perfect game as Pérez set off from the back, passing Russell for sixth and chasing down the Spaniard. On lap 28 the Mexican passed him at turn 9 without much resistance. Alonso knows it’s not his fight and his goal is to stop those behind
The intense rivalry between the Ferraris and the cunning of Fernando
After the first laps with everyone on the new rubber, Leclerc seemed to have more speed than Carlos. Nothing could be further from reality. Sainz managed the hard rubber like no other and as the Monegasque approached within DRS distance he tightened his SF-24. In the middle of the race the distance between them was five seconds but with 25 laps left it was eight. Everything is under control.
From behind, McLaren asked via radio that Piastri let Norris pass on lap 29 so the Briton could put pressure on Leclerc, who had rubber with a few more turns to spare. On lap 34, Lando was closing in on the Monegasque and the radios started ringing at Ferrari to find a solution. A lap later he entered the pits to put on the hard rubber.
He was just ahead of Pérez and Alonso, who tied for fifth and sixth place. The Asturian used his cunning in the best way. He knew he had no chance of beating Checo but if he hadn’t advanced he would have been able to set a pace that the Aston Martin couldn’t have done on its own. He rode the Mexican until he entered on lap 36.
Norris came in on lap 41 and again lost second place to Leclerc but with younger tires. Anticipating the path of the two. At the front, Sainz came in a lap later without any pressure. He’s having a race in true Verstappen style.
Fernando came in on lap 43 to make his second and final stop while his rival in sixth place, George Russell, clung to the weight of the first stop for three more laps. He started three seconds behind the Asturian. It was then that Alonso once again stuck to his best pace against the Briton, as he did in the Jeddah race two weeks ago.
Sainz did not suffer to finish the race in the lead and from behind Norris tried to squeeze Leclerc into the fight for second place. The Briton managed to get close but Charles managed to set the fastest lap (1:19-813) with three laps to go, making it clear he was not going to give up.
Piastri finished in fourth place while ‘Checo’ Pérez could only finish fifth. It was a hard blow for the Mexican that on the day his team-mate gave up, he was not in the lead collecting the necessary points with the best car on the grid.
End of crash and day to forget for Mercedes
The focus is on the fight for sixth place. Russell was half a second behind Fernando with five laps to go. But the desperate Briton trying to overtake the Spaniard made a mistake, lost the rear of the car at turn 6 and had a terrible accident, devoting the weekend to forget about Mercedes.
The walk ended in seventh position far behind his teammate while Tsunoda, Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the TOP10. Haas finished the weekend in the best way with both cars in the points.
Source: La Verdad

I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.